Running Head: ANIMAL TESTING

ANIMAL TESTING: A DEBATABLE ISSUE

Paulette Ramirez
University of Texas at El Paso
Proff. Paul Laprade
RWS 1302: Digital Source Analysis

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This essay will analyze four online sources that were gathered from two different blog
sites and the pool of images that Tumblr has. Three of them are going to be talking about how
cruel and useless is animal testing while the fourth, or last, one is related to pro animal
testing.
The argument of Top Five Reasons to Stop Animal Testing, is in the PeTA
organization online-blog. It contains a picture with a rat that has been in surgery; the text is
not long and it is arranged in a manner that induces people to take a look at the information
inside. As the title says, it talks about five reasons why animal testing should stop. This blog
does not a recognized author, it is written by PeTA which means that it can possibly be
modified by any person who belongs to that organization. This blog has in mind a
community that is against animal testing such as activists, animal rights protectors, and those
individuals that are new to this debatable issue. The way in which this argument is written
has a bad effect on those who read it; for example the bullet point that says: Its bad science.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass
animal tests fail in humans (Top five reasons to stop animal testing, 2011) creates a negative
idea on the audience that could develop into distrust on these testing. All people who posted a
feedback seems to be persuaded by those opinions and agreed to the idea that animal testing
is wrong. However, the blog does not have a strong credibility source, there is not a reference
link from where they got the statistical information from the FDA or the number of animals
that are used yearly, (which was mentioned to be 100 million). It has consistent arguments,
all against animal testing, but they are totally biased which makes one to doubt about its
feasibility. As mentioned earlier, there is one picture of a white rat that has a metal implant on
its skull, which looks painful; it is at the top of the blog causing a first impact, an impact of

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disgust, towards laboratories which are the ones that cause animals to suffer. The negative
adjectives used in the context, like unethical, bad science, wasteful, archaic, atrocious acts,
cruelty, pain, fear, lead the readers perspective to tilt to the opposing side of the issue.
These two details are strong pathos that the writers used to persuade their audience.
Along with this side of the issue there are two Tumblr photos that I found and are also
against animal testing. The first one from Vegan Art has three animals: a beagle dog, a cow,
and an elephant. Each of them is connected to either a gas hose (used in gas testing-dog), a
rope (used to tie animals in a field-cow), or a chain (used in circus to keep animals safeelephant). The faces of those animals are sad representing their suffering from a type of
abuse that was done by humans. It is visually interesting, it has a lot of colors and the
drawings call the attention of the audience right after. The message this picture
communicates could be that, in order to obtain a human benefit either for medical progress or
money, animals suffer. The second Tumblr picture from Wolf-mother-earth, shows a real
picture of two beagle dogs with a gas mask on their muzzle. The text that comes along the
picture says Beagles forced to inhale toxic substancesThe test is complete when 50% of
the animals are killed... The leftover animals are recycledor destroyed (Wolf mother
earth, photograph). It shows a picture about how are the conditions that dogs have when they
are submitted to gas testing procedures.
The creators of these two pictures are unknown. The audience these Tumblr
photographs have in mind, is mostly those cyber-people who is navigating in the web. The
purpose of these pictures is the same as the blog Top Five Reasons to Stop Animal Testing,
they want to get more people on their side and change their minds to agree with their fact that
animal testing is unethical and wrong. These pictures seem to have a positive feedback

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because the first picture has been shared 3,430 times and the second one 749 times. Some of
the audience adds comments saying that is disgusting, that it should be stopped, and few
more negative comments about the issue. These type of genre does not allow to show more
written information due to the fact that the pictures are constrained to a small space. The
pictures have no way to establish its credibility, they are either drawings of animals or, a
picture taken from a laboratory with an annexed argument. There is not even a written link
telling from where the pictures were taken which can be that any random person could have
come up with the idea of one of the pictures and just upload it into the cyber word. The
second picture with the beagle dogs, does hold an argument and provides a picture as
evidence that dogs are forcedly submitted to toxic-gas testing. However, it mentions a
percentage that 50% of animals die when the test is done, but it does not provide the source
from where the quantity was taken which makes the statement less reliable. These type of
genre (pictures) is the one that uses a lot of pathos starting from the colors implied in the
image. The first picture uses a blue-grayish background for each of the three animals, the
facial expression of all the animals is a sad mood, and you can see that they are attached to
the gas hose, the rope, or the chain. This image transmits a sense of empathy for animal
suffering which is supposed to cause anger toward animal testing or animal abuse practices.
The three phrases that appear in this picture are oppose vivisection, wear your own skin, and
slavery which along the sad face of all the animals, they manage to persuade their audience
that animal testing is wrong. The second picture has a black background with white letters,
the dogs picture shows the animals with the gas masks on and inside of a cage. This image
creates the aw! Poor dogs effect. The phrase Beagles forced to inhale toxic substances is

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in capital letters and in a larger size which stands out of the rest of the text and along with the
image they produce a hatred sensation toward those laboratories that use animals in that way.
As there are people that is against animal testing, there is also people who support the
practice of animal testing. Science Blogs (2010), has an online post from Abel Pharmboy,
claiming that animal testing is necessary in order to improve the medical field, in order to
develop new vaccines, in order to discover new surgical methods, and the most important to
[answer those] questions that can only be answered by using the complex physiological
systems of the vertebrate animal. Pharmboy is targeting people such as scientific
researchers, animal rights activists, and also any type of readers that would see his online
opinion. He wants people to realize that animal testing is necessary to improve lives of
humans as well as lives of some animals. The writer gave some supportive ideas that
withstand his perspective about why animal testing is crucial in the medical field, things such
as the antibiotics he received to treat his pneumonia, an organ transplantation that a family
member had, and vaccines that his dog has received. He states that all these methods had
undergone a lot of research and animal testing in order to be secure out of the laboratory (for
human use). At the bottom of this post people replies feedback on what they also think about
the issue and many say his thought is right and makes sense. The writer does not establish
ethos to a fully potential but he mentions that he works in a laboratory and does not do
animal research. Also, he does not mention from where he is affiliated or to whom does he
work. However, his arguments are strong and consistent as well as the evidence provided; in
fact, they are not so biased and he talks about both sides of the issue which demonstrates
credibility on his arguments. At the end he states the position from where he stands, that
every single drug has been through animal testing several times before it gets to human

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consumption because it cannot be launched to the market without knowing the effects this
drug can have on humans. The pathos used in this genre are the real life examples he uses, in
order to show how animal testing has been beneficial not only to himself or his family, but
also to his pet (vaccines). Doing research not only benefits humankind but also animal health.
There are not too many pictures or blogs regarding the pro-side of animal testing as in
the opposing side. The last source showed more credibility throughout the entire blog,
however it slightly belonged to the pro animal testing view. To conclude with the digital
source analysis, I will say that every media has its own way to communicate their message
and we as an audience are prone to any type of argument and if we are not prepared with a
strong opinion, it is easy to be persuaded by a non-credible source.

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Reference
I am Pro-Test: Responsible animal testing improves lives of humans, pets. (2010, April 8).
Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2010/04/08/i-ampro-test-responsible-anim/
Top five reasons to stop animal testing. (2011, May 11). Retrieved November 11, 2015,
from http://www.peta.org/blog/top-five-reasons-stop-animal-testing/
Vegan Art. (n.d.). By Dan Widdowson. [Photograph] Retrieved from
https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/animal-testing
Wolf-mother-earth. (n.d.). Sick, sick human scum. Im ashamed to be human. Im sad to
be alive. From: www.c-a-l-f.com [Photograph]. Retrieved from
https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/animal-testing